Following the lead of the U.S., other nations have designated marine sanctuaries and protected areas, which now cover about 6% of the world’s oceans — a bonanza for researchers but, more importantly, an important tool for safeguarding the seas.

There’s a building boom on the Tibetan plateau, one of the world’s last remote places. The Chinese government wants to set limits on the region’s growth in order to design its own version of one of the U.S.’s proudest legacies — a national park system.

In the wetlands of eastern England, a motley team of farmers, university researchers and conservationists is digging into the region’s barley and wheat fields to turn back the clock. They seek out patches of muddy earth that hint at lost ponds lurking beneath.

Alarmed by rising rates of poaching and deforestation in central Africa, some predicted gorillas could go extinct by 2000. Instead, a concerted and sustained conservation campaign has averted the worst and given a second chance to these great apes.